Antonyms in English. Synonyms, antonyms and phrases Clean dirty antonyms English

Riddle number one. Is it possible to replace with impunity enormous to its synonym monumental?

Riddle number two. What is the antonym of the word long?

Despite tons of new advanced vocabulary, students continue to use simple words like good, bad, beautiful, interesting, and the teachers continue to beg them: “well, tell me amazing, fantastic, awesome!»

And this is all true, no doubt about it. Take a look at the old post about, it has not lost its relevance.

However, since then new thoughts have emerged about synonyms, antonyms and collocations in English.

Synonyms in English

Advanced synonyms are great. But there is one big BUT.

Just because words are synonymous does not mean they are universal and interchangeable. Different synonyms may have different compatibility. Just because

enormous
giant
substantial

Synonyms do not mean that they are always interchangeable.

Dictionary definitions of different synonyms do not add clarity:

notably large in size, amount or extent
exceptionally large or heavy
large and heavy, impressively large

These are definitions of 3 DIFFERENT words. Do you see the difference? So I don't. The dictionary in this case does not help, but only confuses. Much more useful for understanding the difference (both the difference in meaning and the difference in use) is knowledge of phrases.

Different synonyms are often combined with different words in different contexts.

enormous appetite (but not monumental)
giant screen (but not dramatic)
vast majority (but not enormous)
substantial breakfast (but not massive)

Let's take the floor together small and let's do the same with him. I'll even provide screenshots from the Longman Dictionary Online so you can see that I didn't make up these definitions myself.

How do you like it? Are these definitions very useful?

And here are phrases with different synonyms for the word small

tiny hint / bikini / minority
petty crime/theft/cash
miniature golf/version
teeny bit / bit upset / piece
baby carrots
miniscule fragment/portion
small-scale enterprise/production
slight difference / accent
limited period / number of (tickets)
minute detail/trace

It's a completely different matter!

The funniest thing I've heard on this topic is this phrase:

When I was *miniscule, I loved candies

The student just decided to start using advanced synonyms of ordinary words, downloaded one of the lists that are circulating on the Internet, and began to sculpt whatever he got anywhere. And specifically in this context about “when I was little” and no fancy synonyms are needed, just:

When I was little / a kid, I loved candies.

Antonyms in English

Since we're talking about synonyms, it's worth talking about antonyms. Sometimes it's very interesting with them.

What is the antonym of the word long? If at the beginning of the post your first instinct was to respond short, read on))

In fact, to the question “what is the antonym of the word X?” It is impossible to answer without taking into account phrases. For example, at long word the antonym would be, indeed, short word.

But here it will be different:

long breakfast - quick breakfast
long experience - limited experience
long discussion - brief discussion

(On Google and in the corpus of examples brief discussion many times more than short discussion, which means, although short it doesn't seem like a mistake, brief discussion- a more commonly used phrase.)

That is, you can’t just take and answer the question “what is the antonym of the word long(and any other)"?)) Most often the antonym will be short, but not at all necessary.

Or with the word subtle and its antonyms let's have fun:

subtle colors - bold colors
subtle flavor - pronounced flavor
subtle message - clear message

Walk like that! Let's do the same with antonyms heavy:

heavy rain - light rain
heavy accent - slight accent
heavy criticism - minor criticism⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Stop learning words!

All of the above is one of the reasons to love chunks and the lexical approach. Words go together in certain ways with certain words, but not with others.

You can’t just throw words; you cannot randomly replace all simple words with advanced synonyms; you can't think linearly in terms long–short, heavy–light, rich-poor- and at the same time sound natural in English.

Friends, today we will study something new and complex. I have always been interested in studying lexicology. Not all aspects are true, but only some. So, it has always been informative to learn about neologisms or archaisms, synonyms and antonyms. I hope you know what it is and there is no point in giving an exact definition.

You need to improve your level, and there is nothing better than studying words, starting not from the translation, but from the same words, but only in the opposite meaning. The sentence turned out to be “butter, butter”, but I think it’s quite understandable. The dictionary turned out to be in the “English - English” format, and there are few such supports, which is not good. It will fill this niche with various useful things. Forward to study.

List of studied antonyms with translation:

absent – present
accurate – inaccurate
active, energetic, lively – inactive, passive, apathetic
attentive, considerate, thoughtful – inattentive, inconsiderate
awful, terrible, horrible, dreadful – great, excellent, wonderful
awkward, clumsy – skillful, dexterous, adroit, deft
basic, fundamental – secondary, additional
beautiful, attractive, good-looking, pretty – ugly, repulsive
best – worst
big, large – little, small
bold, confident – timid, shy
brave, bold, courageous, fearless – afraid, frightened, scared, timid, cowardly
bright, clear, vivid, colorful – dull, dim, colorless
busy, occupied – free
calm, quiet, peaceful – noisy, agitated, excited, nervous
careful, cautious – careless
cheerful, joyful – cheerless, gloomy
clean, neat, tidy – dirty, untidy
clever, smart – foolish, silly, stupid
cold, chilly, cool – hot, warm
comfortable, cozy – uncomfortable
confident, sure, certain, positive – doubtful, uncertain
constructive – destructive
convenient – inconvenient
correct – incorrect, wrong
crazy, insane – reasonable, sensible, rational
cruel, merciless, ruthless, brutal, inhuman – kind, merciful, humane
dead – alive
deep, profound – shallow, superficial
definite, clear – vague, indefinite
delicious, tasty – tasteless, unpalatable, inedible
different – the same, similar
difficult, hard – easy
dry – wet
eager, willing – reluctant, unwilling
early–late
economic (situation), economical (car)
educated, literate – uneducated, ignorant, illiterate
empty – full
essential, indispensable, requisite, necessary, required – unnecessary, optional, dispensable
even, smooth – rough, uneven
even – odd, uneven
evident, obvious, clear, plain – vague, obscure
evil, malicious – kind, nice, good
exact, precise – inaccurate, inexact
expensive, costly, valuable – inexpensive, cheap
experienced, skilled, competent, qualified – inexperienced, unskilled, incompetent, unqualified
fair, just, objective, unbiased, impartial – unfair, unjust, biased, prejudiced
faithful, loyal, devoted – unfaithful, disloyal, treacherous
famous, renowned, celebrated, distinguished, well-known – unknown, obscure
far, distant, remote – near, close
fast, quick, rapid, speedy, swift – slow
favorable, beneficial, profitable – harmful
fine, refined, delicate, exquisite – common, coarse, gross, vulgar
firm, steady, stable, strong – shaky, unstable, weak
first – last
flexible – rigid, inflexible, stiff
foreign, alien – domestic, local, native
fragile, delicate – strong, sturdy
frequent – rare, infrequent
fresh – stale
friendly – unfriendly, hostile
front – back, rear
funny, amusing, humorous, comic, comical, laughable, ridiculous – serious, grave
general – special, particular, specific
gentle, mild, soft – coarse, rough, harsh, severe
good, nice, pleasant – bad, unpleasant, disgusting
happy, glad, pleased – unhappy, sad, miserable
hard – soft
heavy – light
high – low
historic (moment), historical (fact)
honest, truthful, trustworthy, sincere – dishonest, sincere
huge, enormous, colossal, giant, gigantic – small, tiny
important, significant – unimportant, insignificant, petty
incredible, unbelievable, fantastic
independent, free – dependent, not free
intelligent, wise – dull, stupid
interested, curious – uninterested / disinterested, indifferent, bored
interesting – dull, boring
kind, good-natured – strict, unkind, ill-natured
lazy, idle – hard-working
light – dark
long – short, brief, concise
loud, noisy – quiet, soft
loving, fond, affectionate, tender – unloving, indifferent, harsh
lucky, fortunate – unlucky, unfortunate
magnificent, grand, majestic – shabby, miserable
main, chief, principal – subordinate, subsidiary, secondary, auxiliary, additional
moral, ethical, decent – immoral, unethical, indecent, obscene
narrow – wide
natural – unnatural, affected
necessary, required – unnecessary
new, modern, up-to-date – old, old-fashioned, outdated, ancient
noble, honorable – mean
normal, usual, standard, regular – strange, peculiar, odd, unusual
original – ordinary, banal, trite
outstanding, prominent, eminent, remarkable – ordinary, mediocre
patient – impatient
polite, civilized, well-mannered – impolite, rude, ill-mannered
positive – negative
possible, probable, likely – impossible, improbable, unlikely
previous, preceding, former – next, following
primary–secondary
proper, appropriate, suitable, fitting – improper, inappropriate, unsuitable
proud, arrogant, haughty – modest, humble
real, genuine, authentic – artificial, fake, fictitious
reasonable, sensible, logical – unreasonable, illogical, absurd, crazy, foolish, ridiculous
reliable, dependable – unreliable
respectable, reputable – notorious, infamous
rich, wealthy, well-to-do – poor
right – left
right, correct, true – wrong, incorrect, not true, false, erroneous
round – square, triangular
safe, secure – unsafe, insecure, dangerous
sharp, keen, acute – dull, blunt
shy, timid – confident, self-confident
sick, ill – healthy
simple – complex, complicated
strong, tough, sturdy – weak, delicate, fragile
stubborn, obstinate – compliant, docile, obedient
sufficient, adequate, sufficient – insufficient, inadequate, not enough
suitable, fitting, appropriate – unsuitable, inappropriate
surprising, amazing – ordinary
sweet – sour, bitter, salty
tall – short
tense – relaxed
thick, fat – thin, slim, slender
tight – loose
true – false, deceptive, misleading
understandable, clear, intelligible, comprehensible – unclear, not clear, unintelligible, incomprehensible
useful, helpful – useless
whole, entire, complete, full, total – incomplete, limited, partial
young – middle-aged, old, elderly

P.S. If you don’t like something in the dictionary itself, you can always edit it rather than write a comment of “indignation.” I give you a start, and you decide for yourself what to do with this start.

Selection in format for Lingvo Tutor 12

Selection in Excel format with transcription

Antonyms in English

Antonyms are words that have the opposite meaning. For example, hot - cold, morning - evening, slow - fast, etc. When studying the Russian language in the school curriculum, some time is allocated to antonyms.

The English language also has antonyms, that is, words with opposite meanings. As a rule, when studying a language at school or college, attention is not always paid to antonyms. This is easily explained, because a person studying Russian at school and knowing the definition of the word “antonyms” can independently find such pairs of words.

However, in our opinion, the most popular and frequently used antonyms can be divided into a separate group for . After all, we all know that words are best taught in groups. That is, when words are somehow related to each other.

Of course, the collection of English antonyms below does not pretend to be complete. Besides these examples, you can give hundreds of other antonyms. But we tried to collect a small English dictionary of antonyms. For the convenience of studying words, antonyms are not only written, but also made in the form of tablets that you can print out and take with you.

empty – full
empty – full

difficult, hard – easy
difficult - easy

different – the same, similar
different - same, similar

fast, quick – slow
fast – slow

clever – foolish, stupid
smart / smart - stupid, stupid

correct – incorrect, wrong
right - wrong

deep – shallow
deep – shallow

crazy – reasonable, sensible
crazy - reasonable, sane

exact, precise – inaccurate, inexact
accurate – inaccurate

dry – wet
dry – wet

frequent – rare
frequent – rare

first – last
first - last

funny, amusing – serious
funny, funny/entertaining – serious

accurate – inaccurate
true/accurate – incorrect/inaccurate

busy, occupied – free
busy – free

calm, quiet – noisy, excited
calm, quiet – noisy, excited

cold, cool – hot, warm
cold, cool – hot, warm

early–late
early – late

dead – alive
dead - alive

front – back, rear
front – rear

active, energetic – inactive, passive
active, energetic – inactive, passive

big, large – little, small
big small

bright, colorful – dull, colorless
bright, colorful - dull, colorless

bold, confident – timid, shy
brave, confident – timid, shy

clean, neat – dirty
clean, tidy – dirty

attentive – inattentive
attentive – inattentive

brave, bold – afraid, frightened
brave, courageous – afraid, frightened

awful, terrible – great, excellent, wonderful
terrible - excellent, wonderful

comfortable, cozy – uncomfortable
convenient / comfortable, cozy - uncomfortable

best – worst
best - worst

delicious, tasty – tasteless, inedible
tasty – tasteless, inedible

educated – uneducated, ignorant
educated – uneducated, ignorant

careful, cautious – careless
prudent, cautious - careless

cruel, merciless – kind, humane
cruel, merciless – kind, humane

dangerous – safe
dangerous – safe / safe

beautiful, attractive, good-looking, pretty – ugly
handsome, attractive, pleasant-looking, pretty - ugly

cheerful – gloomy
joyful - gloomy

fresh – stale
fresh – stale

friendly – unfriendly, hostile
friendly – unfriendly, hostile

firm, stable – shaky, unstable
solid, stable – shaky, unstable

far, distant – near, close
distant, distant - close

even, smooth – rough, uneven
even, smooth – uneven, unsmooth

confident, sure – not sure
confident - not confident

foreign – domestic, local
foreign – domestic, local

decent – indecent, obscene
decent / decent – indecent, obscene

fair, just – unfair, unjust
fair - unfair

faithful, loyal – unfaithful, disloyal
faithful/loyal – unfaithful

Once again we want to say that this is not a complete dictionary of English antonyms. But, gradually , you can independently select pairs of such words. In English, as in Russian, there are a lot of antonyms.

However, in our opinion, the most popular and frequently used antonyms can be divided into a separate group for. After all, we all know that words are best taught in groups. That is, when words are somehow related to each other.